Milwaukee, Wisconsin climate: Normal weather by month, frost dates and records

What is the weather like in Milwaukee each month?

July is the warmest month, with normal highs of 82°F; January the coldest, with normal lows of 17°F. The most precipitation falls in June (4.38 in), the least in February (1.69 in).

Each month has its own page with the day-by-day normals, the month's records and its recent years:

• Jan
• Feb
• Mar
• Apr
• May
• Jun
• Jul
• Aug
• Sep
• Oct
• Nov
• Dec

When is the best weather to visit Milwaukee?

Normal highs sit between 65°F and 85°F in May, June, July, August and September. Of those, September has the fewest days with rain (9).

That is a measurement, not a recommendation: it counts the months whose normal afternoon high sits between 65°F and 85°F, where a light layer is enough by day.

When is the last frost in Milwaukee?

In Milwaukee, the last spring frost (32°F) comes after April 19 in half of years and after May 2 in one year in ten; the first autumn frost comes before October 29 in half of years and before October 15 in one year in ten.

Last spring frost, half of years after

April 191 year in 10 after May 2; 9 in 10 after April 6

First autumn frost, half of years before

October 291 year in 10 before October 15; 9 in 10 before November 10

NOAA puts the median frost-free season at 192 days, and the season without a hard freeze (28°F) at 215 days.

A hard freeze (28°F) comes after April 6 in half of springs and before November 8 in half of autumns.

The USDA's 2023 Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Milwaukee in zones 5b to 6a across its 26 ZIP code areas (5b in 53224, the largest). By the map's own method, the average of each year's coldest night over 1991-2020, Milwaukee's NOAA station is in zone 6a: the coldest night of a typical year reaches −8°F (30 complete years); the map interpolates between stations and terrain, so the station and the ZIP area can differ by half a zone.

Frost dates for every NOAA station in Wisconsin · Frost dates by ZIP code

What hardiness zone is each Milwaukee ZIP code in?

The USDA's 2023 map gives each ZIP code area one zone. Milwaukee's 26 ZIP code areas run from zone 5b to 6a: 8 in 5b and 18 in 6a. Each ZIP's frost dates are in the frost tool.

How hot and how cold does it get in Milwaukee?

In a normal year in Milwaukee, 9 days a year reach 90°F, 123 nights fall to 32°F or colder and 126 days bring measurable precipitation.

Days at 90°F or more

9a normal year

Days at 100°F or more

fewer than 1a normal year

Nights at 32°F or colder

123a normal year

Days that stay below freezing

50high of 32°F or less

Days with 0.01 inch of precipitation

126a normal year

Days with 1 inch of snow or more

14a normal year

The highest temperature in Milwaukee's official record (kept by the National Weather Service since 1871) is 105°F, on July 24, 1934; the lowest is −26°F, on January 17, 1982.

The wettest calendar year on that record is 1876, with 50.36 in; the snowiest season is 1885–86, with 109.8 inches.

How humid and windy is Milwaukee, and how clear are its skies?

The summer (June-August) dew point averages 60°F. The muggiest month is July, with an average dew point of 62°F; the driest air comes in January (16°F). March is the windiest month (11.0 mph on average), and August has the most clear or nearly clear hours (48%).

How sunny is Milwaukee?

Over a year 70% of the sunlight that would reach the ground under clear skies gets through the clouds in the area around Milwaukee, 3.7 kWh per square metre a day. July is the sunniest month (79%) and January the cloudiest (53%). Among the 459 U.S. places of 50,000 or more, that ranks tied 428th (with 16 others) in sunshine.

How much heating and cooling does Milwaukee need?

A normal year in Milwaukee brings 6,450 heating degree days, 20% more than the median U.S. place (5,373), and 780 cooling degree days, 14% fewer than the median (908). Seven months need 300 or more heating degree days, a monthly mean of about 55°F or colder. For gardens and crops, NOAA counts 2,902 growing degree days a year above 50°F.

Has Milwaukee been warmer than normal lately?

2025 averaged 48.5°F, 0.8°F below the 1991-2020 normal of 49.3°F. 4 of the 5 complete years since 2021 ran warmer than the normal.

Over 71 complete years from 1939 to 2025, the station's annual mean temperature rose at a fitted 3.5°F per century (+0.20°C per decade). A fitted rate summarizes the whole record; single years swing well above and below it.

Which places near Milwaukee share this climate record?

2 places have no NOAA station with 1991-2020 normals of their own, and this station is the nearest full record. A place's own climate can differ from these figures, by several degrees where it sits much higher or lower than the station, nearer the coast, or inside a large city's heat; for the larger places the next nearest records are named with their yearly mean, so the spread around them is visible, and places of 50,000 or more have their own page with NOAA's gridded normals.

• Cudahy, WI17,704 people · 2 mi E
• St. Francis, WI8,951 people · 2 mi NE

Nearby and next

• Milwaukee in OctoberThis month day by day, its records and recent years
• Wisconsin climateThe statewide normals and every place in the state
• South Milwaukee, WI4 miles from this station, 48.4°F a year
• Hales Corners, WI6 miles from this station, 47.3°F a year
• West Allis, WI7 miles from this station, 49.1°F a year
• Wauwatosa, WI11 miles from this station, 48.2°F a year
• Compare two placesMonth by month, side by side

Download these normals (CSV) · JSON · How these figures are made